We’ve got a forecast high of 66° on Friday. Which actually sounds pretty excellent right about now.

I have a friend who’s visiting in a few weeks; she asked me what she should expect for weather. My response was basically “hell if I know”. It could be in the 80s or it could be snowing by then. Or we could have a hurricane. You know, a typical northeastern autumn.

In southwest BC
(We call it the “Lower Mainland”, the “South Channel Islands”, Victoria, Nanaimo [these two together make up most of the population of Vancouver Island], and various and sundry other locations like the Sunshine Coast, which should be lower mainland, but somehow isn’t always included)
it was 26-29 pretty much everyone. Really widespread sun, humidity in the 50s, just an all around fun day to be out in the warm. Rest of the week looks good too.

And dark. Do not forget the overlong, chilly nigths. When its dark to work, when its dark from work, dull, sunless weather the whole day anyway…

Yeah, I hate the prospect of comming autumn and then winter. It makes wonders to my mood. But not in a good way. We had only some 8 hours of sunshine for the whole winter of 2012. I am not sure how I can survive one more winter like that. If I could migrate to south with geese, I would.

I would love to have spring all year long. The days are long and sunny and the temperatures are comfy…

Hell yes me too./Can’t wait to spend some time in the NC mtns shooting./And I want it to get COLD.

That.

I’m sympathetic to those don’t do cold. But I really do. I’m pretty good with winter cold and dark, even. Dunno how I’d fare if I were at one of those latitudes where the sun actually stops coming up entirely for a while, but here it keeps doing so, each day, if briefly, and the way it does can make up for a lot, too. Got this picture somewhere ’round here of sun shining on a cloud deck from above, looking on this from above, on a snow-covered mountain. I think that kinda thing would make the dark pretty tolerable even if I didn’t actually kinda like it.

Which I actually do. I find the late autumn and winter dark… calming, I guess. Cool air, and once the sun’s down there’s no gauntlet of UV pouring from the sky to fry you, so it’s calming. And you know summer’s coming back anyway. Hell, these days, you know it’s coming back with a vengeance, so getting out of it a bit into the dark and cool is I think actually good for my brain, at least. Cool things off a bit, radiate the damned excess back to space, think a bit more through the long, quiet nights, take time to sort things out.

And the autumn colours are a great thing too. Cheering, in a way very compatible with contemplation. It’s pretty hard to get jaded about what the maples especially do around here. It’s cool at night, you can give the A/C a break, sleep with the windows open, listen to the rain when it comes (which it did just yestereve; it’s still trickling down now as I wake), it’s all good. Late autumn, too, frost on drying leaves underfoot. That crunchy noise underfoot, that’s the stuff. Who needs a stress ball when you’re walking on that stuff. It’s nature’s stress ball. Like popping bubble wrap with your feet.

I remember that you referenced “The October Country” once before, so here you go:

“…that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain…”

The tupelo and dogwood trees around me are turning red already, as are poison ivy and Virginia creeper vines. And just this week I learned that this early-color phenomenon is thought to be a signal to birds – basically “get’cher tasty fruits right here right now!”

Last night I closed all the windows in my house for the first time in four and a half months. On the plus side, it’ll likely be another two months before I switch the heating on. 51N is temperate enough for me.

I would LOVE to see some cool, or even cold weather.
We drove up to Austin today. It was 93 there, 95 by the time we stopped in San Marcos and 100 by the time we got back to San Antonio. I’m missing the coast of California so very much. We had highs of 65 all year ’round. If the temp reached 70 (usually in Sept, better known as summer for the locals) people would be complaining about the “hot day”.
I love the cool foggy nights there. I could snuggle up in my housecoat and warm fuzzy socks with a steaming cup of tea and a splash of amaretto any time of the year. Our utility bills were crazy low, since we had no AC and rarely used the heater.
I WANT TO GO BACK!!!!